gotta disagree bout grabs. Towards the end of his breakout season he was getting much more breakaways and looking more explosive than now. However i think he is playing more responsibly defensively now (still very flawed, but improving and obviously gifted with a very good stick) and overall playing more effectively. But he does have less SH chances now and he is having less breakaways than back then.

Very pleased with hickey and strait. Strait had more games, so i hope we can expect more of the same from him. Hickey shows he has upside.

Comparing the two periods, Grabs had an insane amount of breakaways during his first season because teams were not prepared for him and that blazing speed. Right now he is gettng less chances because they do know about him, but he is still getting more than most around the NHL. You can't keep talent down for long.

- The amazing thing was that Grabner managed to score *despite* the Penguins playing super conservatively whenever he was out on the ice. Just one mistake and BAM.

- Nabokov played quietly and efficiently all game. Really unspectacular and smooth. He's the opposite of DiPietro. No wonder he can play 70 games, he barely seems to move out there.

- Hamonic is a tough SOB. Damn.

- It's obvious that the only way we're going to win is by consistently outplaying the opposition on special teams. The way Nielsen, Streit, and Tavares rotate around the top of the umbrella (I'm not an X-O guy, but I think this is accurate terminology) is very effective. I'm surprised we don't see more teams utilizing that strategy. (On the other hand, why don't opposing teams cut off passes to the left wing side? The three players who play high are all lefty shots, and backhand passes are usually much less accurate. The Penguins allowed everything to go to the left.)

- I don't see why the announcers called the Isles PK 'aggressive'. I don't think it's aggressive at all. The issue is that Grabner is explosive, so when there's a flub or a dangerous pass, he can explode from his deep position and get to the puck with speed. It's opportunistic, not aggressive.

Cheers,

Dan-o

I disagree with the bolded. I don't disagree that they have been important parts, I disagree with viewing the situation this way.

Every 5 or 6 game stretch can be analyzed like that, for every team. The Sharks would be not very good without the start that Marleau and Thornton have (they each have NINE power play points). The key is that very few players can keep up torrid paces all season, and a good team has a number of guys that rotate and are hot at different times. When Grabner slumps a bit, we hope another secondary scorer can step up and pot some. Or we hope it is when Tavares is on a hot streak. That's how good teams win. So I don't look at this as a negative.

Drafting Hammer and getting Grabner are absolutely the best moves he's made.

If we somehow not only make the playoffs this year but go deep, I'd say his best move was not giving up on Nabokov after everything that happened. I think a lot of Isles fans just wanted him gone when he first refused to report. Now, we are screwed without him.

Regardless of how well guys like Tavares, Moulson, Grabner, Hamonic, etc. perform this year, we'll have no chance at any success without Nabby.

Anyone notice the improvement to Grab's hands. He actually has "ok" hands now. He must have been working on this over the summer and during his time in Austria?

no i didnt (edit: notice). like usually with grabs the problem was/is/will be in his head. He doesnt have good hands, but he plays in a very unique shifty style = he gets good things done every other time.

Last year was typical for a cold grabner. Just lasted longer... Right now we have hot grabs, just more effective. Its all in the head!

It's so weird to hear the announcers giving our team praise. I heard the words "fast", "young", "hard skating", "hard playing", "tough to play against", and I was thinking, are we talking about the Islanders here ? I was really impressed by Hamonic, what a warrior ! You could tell he was laboring out there with the sprained ankle, but was still playing against Malkin. I really like how quick the Isles got to the puck and attacked, especially on the penalty kill, and the pp was deadly. Best complete game I've seen the Isles play in a while. The announcers could say the Penguins played poorly and lost the game, but the Isles CAUSED the Penguins to play poorly, that was quite enjoyable.

Drafting Hammer and getting Grabner are absolutely the best moves he's made.

Ya know I dont want to take anything away from Snow, but picking Grabs off waivers kind of goes to the credit of Ken Morrow who heads up our pro scouting. Waiver wire pick ups are a crap shoot anyway, but credit Morrow when it turns out well.
As for drafting Hammer, he was 2" smaller when he was picked, then had a growth spurt and filled out. If Snow (or Klatt) knew he was gonna be a stud, they would have taken him where they took Ness instead of our 2nd round two pick, #53 overall. A lot of teams passed over Hammer, we got lucky he was still there.

Isles have done a great job standing teams up at the Blueline in the games they have won...it's the best medicine when you don't exactly have an all star group on your backline.

I think back to that game Pittsburgh played against the Rangers last week. On paper, the Rangers defense completely destroys ours, yet Pittsburgh basically set up shop in their zone the whole night and cycled the puck at will. The Isles weren't even letting them do that on their PP.

I'm beyond impressed with how they played last night. Still not going to get too excited since it's still very early, but I definitely can't complain with how things have gone so far.

Ya know I dont want to take anything away from Snow, but picking Grabs off waivers kind of goes to the credit of Ken Morrow who heads up our pro scouting. Waiver wire pick ups are a crap shoot anyway, but credit Morrow when it turns out well.
As for drafting Hammer, he was 2" smaller when he was picked, then had a growth spurt and filled out. If Snow (or Klatt) knew he was gonna be a stud, they would have taken him where they took Ness instead of our 2nd round two pick, #53 overall. A lot of teams passed over Hammer, we got lucky he was still there.

No offense but I don't get this line of thinking at all. They still invested a 2nd rounder in the guy, so they obviously had some sort of expectations. A lot of it comes down to knowing when a guy will still be around. It's very possible that they liked Hamonic more than Ness, but knew Hamonic would be around if they waited but weren't sure if Ness would still be there.

Regardless, should Detroit not get credit for picking Zetterberg in the 7th round years ago because they passed on him X amount of times? or the Rangers finding Lundqvist? Luck is definitely involved, but at the end of the day you have to give them credit.

I think back to that game Pittsburgh played against the Rangers last week. On paper, the Rangers defense completely destroys ours, yet Pittsburgh basically set up shop in their zone the whole night and cycled the puck at will. The Isles weren't even letting them do that on their PP.

I'm beyond impressed with how they played last night. Still not going to get too excited since it's still very early, but I definitely can't complain with how things have gone so far.

Same here...this time next month and they are still playing well, maybe I'll start buying in. Until then, I will proceed with cautious optimism.

It's amazing I don't know if anybody has gone back and read the comments being made but some of you really should. You will see how much you look like hypocritical, contradicting, bipolar {MOD EDIT}. Maybe some of you should think before you type!!

Great effort by the Isles. Wish they could have preserved that shutout for Nabby. Everyone seemed on their game tonight and put in a good effort. I didn't really see anybody slacking. Even Carkner made some smart plays and had a decent rush up ice. It could be coming together, we'll see. No reason why, if they can continue to play that way, that they won't be competitive night in and night out. Tough stretch these 5 games we'll have a good idea of the consistency of this team by late next week.

FWIW, the Isles 2 regulation losses were to NJ and BOS, undefeated and arguably the top teams in the East right now. And they beat TB giving them their only loss (5-1). We've been down this road before, but maybe this year will be at least a little different.

I think sometimes we fall into the trap of thinking the uniforms are playing the games. But the reality is that there is some great talent on the roster and in the pipeline and some of it is starting to mature now. So those uniforms are eventually going to start winning.

It's so weird to hear the announcers giving our team praise. I heard the words "fast", "young", "hard skating", "hard playing", "tough to play against", and I was thinking, are we talking about the Islanders here ? I was really impressed by Hamonic, what a warrior ! You could tell he was laboring out there with the sprained ankle, but was still playing against Malkin. I really like how quick the Isles got to the puck and attacked, especially on the penalty kill, and the pp was deadly. Best complete game I've seen the Isles play in a while. The announcers could say the Penguins played poorly and lost the game, but the Isles CAUSED the Penguins to play poorly, that was quite enjoyable.

I was watching the Penn's broadcast and they were the same way..I was like what? You're actually saying good stuff about us?

Like I said at the beginning of the thread, the system we are playing right now seems to be whats giving us success. Its a case of these guys finally buying into it. Past years they were young and still figuring it out. With maturity comes sense. I think now that they have a taste of winning with a system they will continue to buy into it. Our coaching staff is doing a decent job this year, the assistants have something to prove which in the end drives capuano to improve and adjust. Always having the guy under you pushing for your job is what keeps everyone honest. I am starting to see depth in this organization at all positions which caun only be a positive.

Hey i still watch the brawl fest vs them every few months or so and it's still awesome to me.

Love that game ! Still have it on my DVR, and it got several viewings during the summer and lockout (man do I miss Konopka and Haley). Also have the Isles/Rangers game from the same season, when Haley bloodies Avery in a fight, think the Isles won 6-1 or 5-1, love that game. The brawl fest against Pittsburgh is my favorite game from the last 5 years.